BATON ROUGE, La. – Jake Fraley has never been a loser, and he wasn't going to start now.

The Middletown native hit .536 and .492 in his junior and senior seasons at Caravel Academy, earning first team Louisville Slugger All-American and first team All-State honors.

He had his pick of dozens of college programs coveting his five-tool baseball potential. The outfielder may have slotted into an instant starting left field and middle of the lineup role on many teams that courted him. But Fraley chose LSU, where he entered Friday night's game against Mississippi hitting .289 with 15 RBIs this season for the No. 12-ranked Tigers. Fraley's RBI single in the 11th inning Thursday night was key in LSU's 13-inning triumph over the Rebels.

He's still fighting for playing time, but the reason Fraley headed south in simple: national championships.

"I have a rule in baseball: You always want to be around the best baseball players, the best competition, the best pitchers, because that's just going to make me a better player," Fraley said.

LSU is considered the one of the nation's elite college programs, with 16 appearances in the College World Series and six national championships, the last in 2009. The Tigers, who regularly draw thousands to Alex Box Stadium for games, also have led the nation in average fan attendance for 18 consecutive years.

"There were a lot of schools after him," said Caravel coach Paul Niggebrugge. "The big decision for him was whether he was going to go in the draft. He chose not to do that and to attend LSU. The coach there, Paul Mainieri, is a wonderful guy, and he's a guy of character. Jake is as well, so I think it was a great match."

Fraley initially struggled to make the adjustment from Caravel to Baton Rouge. He labored through his first fall practice, offering few glimpses of the skill set that made him one of the Tigers' most prized recruits last spring.

Fraley said he wasn't mentally prepared for his first fall with a new team. It took him a while to get accustomed to the busy offseason schedule and the rigors of college classes.

"It was a big culture shock," Fraley told The Daily Reveille in March. "The biggest part was just getting used to everything with the routine, and then obviously baseball. For the most part, it was just getting used to everything and getting in a routine so I feel comfortable for myself."

Mainieri and hitting coach Javi Sanchez sent the outfielder home for fall break with specific areas of his game to work on, and Fraley came back to Delaware to seek out the man he calls his real hitting coach – his father.

"He's got all the tools," Niggebrugge said. "I think his biggest asset is his coachability, and his work ethic is second to none. I think that's why he is where he is right now."

Fraley said his dad, Marvin, laid out Mainieri and Sanchez's proposed adjustments the same way he had coached Jake his entire life, and the changes finally stuck.

"He came back in January, and he's like a different guy," Mainieri said. "He's more confident, he's more athletic and when we've given him an opportunity to play, he's done good stuff."

Fraley said the spring routine has been easier now that the Tigers are well into their regular-season schedule.

Going forward, Fraley hopes to continue to compete for a starting job, and the more he continues to drive in runs, the harder it may be to keep him out of the lineup, Mainieri said.

In the meantime, Fraley will still get pinch hit and run opportunities – as he did in Thursday – putting his faith in Mainieri and the coaching staff's plan.

"Coach Mainieri is going to do whatever is best for the team, and even if I'm not the one out there, I trust him," Fraley said. "I understand what he's doing. My time will come."